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Shady side up

David Kilgore has two solid keepers in the boat. And now for what we've all been wanting to know: He's fishing in short creeks and pockets off the main lake. In the farthest reaches he's targeting floating boat docks. In all cases he looks for the last dock at the end of the creek.

Access is key. By "short," that means he's not having to make long runs into longer creeks to find this combination of a dock at the end. He can fish more of the stuff he's looking for and spend less time getting there.

Know where this is going?

He tells us the females are using the docks as staging points before spawning. Yes, the water temperature is in the low 50s, but that doesn't seem to matter here.

What does is the sunshine. When it appears—and it just did—the fish tighten up and hold on the shady side of the dock. That's where Kilgore's umbrella rig lands. He's fishing it like a spinnerbait in a classic prespawn presentation. Strikes happen after three or more casts. It takes that many to get their attention and tempt these fish into seeing and striking the bait.

In a nutshell, here it is: Shady side of docks, prespawn females using floating docks as staging areas prior to the spawn, and an A-Rig fished like a coverage lure.